Replacement
by Bru21
Summary: "I suppose...it could be said I have two fathers." "Well, that's one more reason why I wish Sasori of the Red Sands had never been born" He's no replacement. He's not even human.


Another quirkily terrible one-shot by yours truly :p Warning, character death (And life; Oh, I'm terrible) Hope you enjoy! In case you get confused, the lines seperate between present and flash-back (Except at the end, it's obvious but there's a line that seperates but still is flashback; you should notice :p)

Disclaimer-No such way does anything belong to me~!

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><p>"I suppose...it could be said I have two fathers." Those lidless beads, solid and shiny in the place of eyes, stared at her, past her, unblinking and unfocused. His voice was deadpan and foreign, unnatural. Where did it come from? This thing with no lungs, no voice?<p>

"Sasori of the Red Sands created me, but it was Kankuro of the Black Secret Technique who breathed life into me. Without either one of them, I would not be here today." If he had the emotional capacity and physical ability, he would have smiled.

"Well, that's one more reason why I wish Sasori of the Red Sands had never been born." She spat.

* * *

><p>"It could even bring life to puppets. But at a cost."<p>

All eyes were on him as he spoke. Most were choking back tears as the reality of the situation dawned on them. She had passed. She was gone. Chiyo-Baasama was dead.

That alone drowned out anything in her mind, as reality and acceptance forced itself into her mind. But, for just a moment, she weighed her thoughts on what her brother had just said. Such a powerful jutsu-one that disobeyed all life and human restraints. To play God, to be able to give life to something not born with it? Or return life to someone which lost it?

She wasn't complaining, she noted, looking to the brother she was grateful she still had. But, even she felt uneasy at the thought-that something like this existed. That someone had learned it, mastered it. Used it.

Then, her brother began speaking again and this thought drifted from her mind. It didn't matter anymore. The secret, the power, had died with it's creator. It was now lost, and they could only hope it would never be found. This is how it should be.

* * *

><p>Silence filled between the two of them before the first spoke again, unmoving or caring at the last comment directed towards it.<p>

"Do you wish I was not here, now? Do you wish so badly that your brother was in my place?"

"Of course!" She snarled, anger rushing to her already burning face. Rage was blinding her as she shook at the memory.

"More than anything, I wish my brother was still here, was with me."

* * *

><p>"You're spending a lot of time lately away from home," She playfully noted, perching her elbows atop his desk. She felt in a good mood, though granted a bit bored, hence her recent interruption of her brother. He didn't look at her, too busy tweaking some wires and gears in his latest design. A frown crept across her face when he hesitated further in answering but finally he sighed and spoke.<p>

"I've been studying."

"Aren't you the little scholar." She teased, her good mood returning in full. She plopped herself upon his bed, pretending to admire her fingernails as though she had nothing better to do than listen to him. Secretly, she was interested in his whereabouts. After another long pause, he answered.

"I've been studying Chiyo's scrolls. Her notes, and journals. About her technique."

Temari felt the intensity of the moment like a kunai slicing air. She let her hand drop and looked to her brother.

"Are you...thinking of taking up her ten puppets?"

She visibly saw Kankuro hesitate. That was a yes...and a no.

"Those need repair," He answered, though this didn't quite answer her question. She stared intently back at him.

"And..?" She inquired.

He looked away, unable to hold her gaze. He was hiding something, and doing a piss-poor job at that.

"Something like that."

She sighed. The mood had twisted darker than she'd meant it to. In an attempt to lighten it, to show her brother she did not mean to chastise him, she fell back and twisted at a loose strand of hair, though she doubted he could see her.

"My little brother, learning the ways of the great Chiyo. You'll be a greater master than her, before you know it."

Again, he didn't respond immediately. This time, he didn't respond at all. She was met with the clinks and chirps of metal scratching metal.

* * *

><p>"He was dying."<p>

"He could have been healed! A medic nin..." She faltered. "A medic nin was on their way! She could have saved him! That technique was forbidden!"

"But he only did it to protect you, his siblings."

"We didn't need protection, we needed him!" She shouted.

* * *

><p>"Wow, and here I didn't believe you that you really were studying."<p>

Kankuro jumped at the appearance of his sister in his doorway. His hand instantly flew over the scrolls unraveled on his workbench. This motion added to Temari's curiosity, and uncrossing her hands, she strolled over to him.

"Haven't seen you in awhile, you keep holing yourself up in here..." Her voice trailed off as her eyes darted to the scroll, but again he motioned to conceal it.

"Is dinner about ready?"

Temari flashed her eyes on Kankuro.

"Yeah, around two hours ago."

Kankuro looked away from her, but his hands remained firm over the parchment. Temari backed off.

"Look, I'm all for your dedication to your art, but it's alright to take a break, or even just a moment to yourself. And that's coming from me," She muttered the last part, rubbing at her neck which recently had suffered from soreness as of late. Sighing she looked again to her brother, only to find him returned to his scroll. He wasn't paying attention to her in the least. Irked, she almost hit him just for that.

But after a moment, she reconsidered. Instead, she just turned to leave. At the entrance, she stopped when he spoke,

"I'll...think about it."

She smiled, weak though it was.

"That's all we ask."

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><p>"He was weak. Where as I, I'm strong. I cannot die, cannot get sick. Wounds and maiming don't affect me. I'm the perfection Sasori strived for, but without the fatal flaw, the final weakness. Had your brother had more time, he would have strived to perfect Sasori's idea and close the gap between himself and my creation."<p>

"You think my brother would have turned himself into a puppet?"

"I know he would have."

* * *

><p>"Damn!"<p>

He cursed, falling to one knee. Temari was by his side instantly.

"Kankuro, what're you doing? That's enough, let's stop-!"

"Get out of the way, Temari!" He snapped, rising again to an unsteady knee.

Temari hesitated before backing off slightly, just in reach to catch him if he swayed too dangerously.

From a distance, Gaara watched with mild curiosity and a pang of guilt, hidden began that dead-blank face of his.

"Again!" Kankuro snapped.

Temari looked to Gaara, who in turn watched her as though for approval. This training session had gone sour fast.

"Again!" Kankuro barked.

Gaara raised his hands, the sand following.

Temari closed her eyes.

* * *

><p>Slap.<p>

The sound of flesh against wood. It did not affect the receiver, though the deliverer now had a stinging hand, and tears, though the two were not connected. Not the pain of the palm, at least.

"Your brother saw me as a sibling, as a person, before he even recognized his own siblings," The puppet continued without any signs of hesitation and acknowledgement of the attack. "You were always so distant and cruel," he nodded towards the doorway, "and he was just a monster."

She grinded her teeth, holding back her tongue and fist.

"I was there for him. I never hit him. Never threatened him. I always listened. He trusted me. Years, we spent together and I was the one tool, the one person, he could rely on. Do you still doubt his choice, his decision? Why he chose to give his remaining life to me, in hopes I would carry out his wish eternally. You may disagree on a personal matter, but strategically it was sound. Why waste such a life force, where instead he gave life for a life."

"My brother's existence was not a waste!"

"But you think that I am. Am I not your brother's life now?"

* * *

><p>In silence she stared at the shadow, at the monstrosity seated across from her. Perched like a seated person, she scowled.<p>

"Why do you carry that thing everywhere?" She chided.

Kankuro, from his cot, looked up from adjusting the IV in his arm to acknowledge her question. Turning, he faced the object of question.

"Karasu?" Temari didn't bother calling the thing by name. Not now. Her brother always chided the puppet for it's reliability. Where was it yesterday, during their spar? She knew it was her brother's fault, for pushing herself and Gaara and provoking them to cause enough harm to him that he'd land in the overnight hospital care. She knew it was Kankuro's own weakness that commanded the puppet to slow to protect himself. How could she blame just a tool?

Still, it felt better to blame the object than her brother. She cared about her brother. This puppet was just a puppet.

"I've had Karasu since as long as I can remember well enough. He's served me well. Besides, what's to say he isn't as curious of my well-being as I am of his?"

Temari snorted.

"You think this puppet is curious of your condition? That's why you have it...seated, like some family member, watching your recovery?"

Kankuro shrugged.

"He is family."

Temari eyed Karasu with great scrutiny.

"There's no way we're related."

* * *

><p>"You're a puppet! You were neither born human nor are you human now! You are just a puppet, whose strings are being still controlled, still pulled, from beyond the grave! You're a sick trick and final act of a fool!" She now freely was crying.<p>

"Temari?"

Both turned to see the third person enter. Gaara looked sullenly to his sister, sparing a glare to the puppet, who did not react to either development.

"G-Gaara..."

"Kazekage-sama."

The girl snapped her head to the puppet.

"You're not my brother. He may have used his last breadth so you could experience and play 'life', but you are not him. He was human, flesh, with emotions and cared. He was our brother. You're not even a citizen."

* * *

><p>"A mission?"<p>

"The three of us, just like old times sake!"

Temari looked to Kankuro. She was appalled. He found this amusing.

"Should I dawn on my Chuunin design?" He snarled. Temari frowned, disappointed that he encouraged this.

"Gaara, you're the Kazekage. You can't run off and escape doing lowly missions like before. You have a responsibility, a-"

"A figure-head position? I refuse to stand by and let all my subjects do all the hard work that I in turn depend on to be respected. I spent years wishing to be accepted by this village. Why would when I finally do gain that respect, try to alienate myself further by cooping myself as far away as possible from the common foot soldiers? Temari," He motioned closer to her. "It's a C-rank mission."

Kankuro snickered lightly at the idea.

"C'mon, Temari. This is no suicide run. What harm can come from the three of us?"

"If word gets out of the Kazekage becoming isolated from protection, putting himself in harm's way in the public-"

"Yes, because you and I are such push-over's," Kankuro chided in. Temari didn't argue.

"As Kazekage, I assign the three of us to this mission. Be packed and prepared by sunrise tomorrow."

Temari scowled playfully.

"Pulling rank, I see."

Gaara smirked in return.

Kankuro, sighing, turned to exist.

"I'll see if I can muster up some old bandages, dress Karasu in something a bit more memorable. Maybe I still have that one-piece lying around from way back then..."

* * *

><p>"I am loyal to Kazekage-sama."<p>

"To what extent? How do we know you won't grow a mindset of your own and betray us all? You're immortal, you're invincible, you could do it, could you not?"

"Temari-" Gaara warned.

"That is not my purpose."

"What is your purpose?"

"To protect Kazekage-sama."

"On whose orders?"

"Kankuro-sama's."

* * *

><p>"C-C-mission...my ass..." He coughed. Temari, choking on salty tears, clutched at his cold fist. She had long since given up on being careful of squeezing too hard. It was cold and numb and mangled. No longer did he feel anything past his elbow on that arm. Gaara was no where to be seen.<p>

"T-Temari...do me a favor...a-and bring Karasu over here, will you?"

She didn't argue. In a moment, without memory or recollection of finding or dragging the puppet, she was again by his side with the wooden scraps in hand. She offered them to him like water, blessed to a parched desert survivor. Coughing, he lifted a shaking hand to accept what he could muster to hold.

His eyes closed a moment, and fear overcame her.

"G-Gaara! Gaara!" She screamed, her voice shrill and hoarse. She heard nothing. Kankuro winced one eye open.

"Temari, relax, I'm still...here." He winced but quickly followed it up with a smile. She found her lip twitching in one in return, reminded of his earlier days where that expression was so common. A smirk and a wink, she thought. It was his way of saying it was alright, she noted.

A strange green glow of light startled her from her thought. She looked down to see his hands faintly glowing upon the touch of the puppet. She instinctively reached for them, but he motioned not to. Instead, she watched.

"Kankuro..." She stuttered. He didn't speak for a moment, and again she whispered his name. This time, he sighed.

"I need to concentrate...for this to work...I'm not quite sure if it will or not...Still, I'd really like it to..." He smiled warmly at Temari, through glossed eyes and dried, caked-on blood, mingled with sweat and dirt. "Could you just...sit with me. Just for a bit."

A dying man's request.

Temari obeyed, sitting their in silence and watching as the glow seemed to flicker, and eventually fade. And when stillness replaced breath, she found her voice again, and in a mangled jumble, found herself calling out both brother's names, hoping for a response from one of them, either of them.

* * *

><p>Gaara found her soon after, collapsed over Kankuro's still corpse. And beside the duo, he found the alive, curious, final act of the puppet master. The animated Karasu, sitting guard over the siblings.<p>

* * *

><p>The two siblings froze. It was Gaara who breathed a disbelieving, "what?"<p>

"My orders, my instructions, upon 'birth' were to protect Kazekage-sama, and those dear to him. That includes you," The puppet motioned to Temari before continuing, "and I honor my master's commands. You are right...I am a puppet, whose strings are being commanded from beyond the grave. But I was created by a master, a hero; a great man. Not a fool. His last wish is not to be taken lightly. You may never warm up to me," The expression seemed odd coming from carved wood and poison soaked needles, with a tuff of fur atop three beady, black eyes, "but this is what reality has become. I am not your brother, but I am his creation. You may think of me as a puppet or a monster, but as of now, I am living. I am a puppet whose strings have been cut, and yet I am more bound to my master than ever. I will serve, loyally, my Kazekage-sama, as I did in the past at the hands of the one who came before me. I will protect you...both of you, because that is what he willed me to do. That is what he would have done. That is what, through me, he is doing now."

Temari, unable to contain herself, stormed out in tears.

For a moment more, Gaara watched the puppet. He tried to understand, he truly did. Why his brother thought this was necessary. Did he ever want his siblings to move on from the grief of his death? Or was torturing them with this tease of his past life his way of forever tormenting them of his memory? Did he feel his presence would cause such a rift to them that there needed to be something, someone, who could stand in his place? Was this his idea of retribution, of seeking forgiveness for all those times he felt he hadn't been there? Gaara stared, unable to understand his brother. A part of him, unable to forgive him. For leaving them, and in his place, something that could never replace him.

She hates it. He watches it. And it will forever, never be him, but always be his.

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><p><strong>AN: **Random fact about this, I've always liked the thought and idea of the whole bringing-puppets-to-life thing. It's something to really play with :p I chose this interpretation because I wanted the opportunity to make a real character out of Karasu. He's not given much feeling or personality, but I guess that makes sense in context. I also must add, I'm curious about how in fact Sasori is 'a puppet'. Did he make a puppet in likeliness of himself and transfer his life to that puppet body, or replace organ afte rorgan until he was fully puppet, save for that heart/box/seal thing? I don't much get it, I'll admit-I'd lvoe to hear what you all think! I took liberty of interpreting the life-transfer thing to ana ctual puppet, something that wasn't living before, as giving it a completely new life in exchange for your own, like Chiyo did for Gaara. Ah, enoguh rambling on that~!

On a less important note, it's my birthdya soon...so, this psoting is kinda a B-day gift for myself (Not that any of you care! Which is fine haha I sound conceited telling you this! :I) I'd like to post again soon, maybe even clsoer to my birthday, but in case I can't, this will do as both my personal Birthdya gift, and my Christmas Gift to the Kankuro fandom~! (We do to exist! :3 ) Haha that mgiht be a bit bold to say..anyway, review if you'd like, otherwise Merry Christmas (Or happy holidays~!) I'll improve my quality, eventually, I promise! XD That's all!


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